Trial-by-Ordeal
by Kellybug
Summary: A sequel of, or ANSWER to, "Who's Hunting the Digi-Destined?" by Saberflame.. whether he wanted it or not! If you haven't read "Who's Hunting the Digi-Destined", read that before you read this.


  
  
Trial - by - Ordeal   
  
A DIGIMON fanfic.  
  
  
  
DISCLAIMERS:   
  
The characters in this story are not mine. The Digimon and their Digi-destined partners   
are the property of their creator, Miyoshi Houso, and of Toei Animation Studios in Japan. The   
English-dubbed version rights belong to Haim Saban. I'm not writing this for profit- just for   
fun.  
  
NOTE:  
  
This fiction is a sequel to Saberflame's fanfiction, "Who's Hunting the Digi-Destined?"  
I HOPE Saberflame doesn't mind (^_-) I strongly suggest you read Saberflame's story before reading   
mine.   
  
  
  
  
It can be difficult adjusting to a new place. Especially if you haven't any friends.  
  
It can seem downright DANGEROUS when you've killed the only friends you had in this   
new place!  
  
Agumon was trying to remain hidden, trying to locate the other Digimon.. the remaining   
Digimon. 'Why didn't Gomamon destroy Jyou's Digi-vice?' the dinosaur-digimon wondered. 'He KNEW   
that is.. was.. what linked us and the kids!' Agumon paled a bit as he remembered the Digi-destined,   
as he remembered Taichi. "I can not think of him.. of that.. now!" Agumon whispered to himself.   
"I must find the others!"  
  
Agumon couldn't even remember why he had agreed to kill the digi-destined. He hoped   
one of the others would have an answer. All he remembered was a voice in the back of his head  
whispering, "It's for the best".  
  
"It's for the best." Agumon mumbled as he searched for the other Digimon. "It's for   
the best. It has to be."  
  
"Agumon ?"  
  
The small dinosaur jumped and paled at the soft whisper and the minute rustling from   
a nearby bush. He turned around, and his color returned as he recognized the speaker. "Gabumon!"  
Agumon shouted. "Am I glad it see you!"  
  
"Quiet, Agumon!" Gabumon shushed Agumon. "Someone could hear you!"  
  
"'Someone could hear' ?" Agumon looked around. "Who ? Nobody followed me !"  
  
"Are you sure, Agumon?" The furry Digimon asked. "Not even.. ?"  
  
"Who, Gabumon?" It was then that Agumon saw the sheer-terror in Gabumon's eyes.  
  
"What is it?" Agumon asked worriedly. "Gabumon?"   
  
"I hear things!" Gabumon finally whispered. "whispers.. shuffling in the leaves or   
on the sidewalk.. humming.. you know- things! And I see shadows.. behind me.. and when I turn   
around.. nothing's there.." he grabbed on Agumon. "but a soft, mocking laugh!"  
  
"Gabumon!" Agumon responded. "Get ahold of yourself!"  
  
"He's coming back to get me, Agumon!" Gabumon said fearfully. "He is coming to pay   
me back, for what I've done!"  
  
"'He'?" Agumon asked. "Who's ..?"  
  
"Yamato !" Gabumon hissed out.  
  
"Yamato's DEAD!" Agumon shook Gabumon. "All the Digi-destined are dead! We made SURE  
of that! And wherever they may be, they're not coming back!" He patted Gabumon's shoulder.   
"Everything will be all right, Gabumon! You'll see! We are no longer trapped in the Digital-  
World! We're free! No one will EVER be after us again!"  
  
"If you say so, Agumon!" The furry Digimon looked around. "You are right! One one   
will ever get to me here. Least of all, Yamato Ishida!"  
  
"That's the spirit, Gabumon !" Agumon smiled. "Now, where are the others ? We have   
to stick together, here, you know."   
  
"Hai! I know! Everyone had to 'Do some thinking', or so they said. We shall be back   
together at nightfall!" At that, Gabumon and Agumon parted, Agumon searching for the other Digimon,   
and Gabumon wandering around with his thoughts.  
  
As Gabumon wandered in the park alone, he thought he felt the wind grow colder.   
'Brrrrrr !! C-c-cold wind - in Summer ?'   
  
Then he heard the crunch of leaves, and the snapping of twigs underfoot.  
  
"Who is..?" Gabumon started to ask as he turned around, only to find the rest of   
the question frozen in his throat.  
  
"Konnichi-wa, Gabu-kun." The soft voice behind the blue-eyes said.  
  
"Yamato.." Gabumon whispered, "Where did.. ? How are.. ? But you are.. ?" Fear   
showed in Gabumon's eyes.  
  
"'Dead'?" Yamato Ishida finished for the frightened Digimon. "Hai. Frozen to   
death. A very- strange- sensation." The piercing blue eyes seemed to looked right though Gabumon.   
"One you may feel, one day." A ghostly arm reached out to Gabumon, who felt an instant chill.   
The furry Digimon stood frozen as Yamato's ghostly form entered him, as his mind was transfixed   
by the wraithe's next words:  
  
"But not this day!"  
  
Palmon was wandering deep within another part of Odaiba, a strangely familiar   
part. "Why I come back here?" She asked herself aloud. Then, she quieted herself after she heard   
herself speaking.'I can't let anyone hear me..' The little Plant-Digimon thought to herself,   
'what if someone had heard me, or seem me, when I was here last..?'   
  
"Do not worry, Palmon!", someone seemed to whisper, "no one saw your deed, save   
for me!" A light giggle could be heard on the evening breeze.   
  
"Nani?" Palmon looked around as she slowly reognized the voice. "Mimi? But, that   
is not possible! Your parents reburied you! You should not be here!" The Digimon did not see  
the shoots rising up around her.  
  
"My body is no longer here, Palmon, true." Mimi continued to whisper, "but my   
spirit remains where you planted it, calling out for you."   
  
It was then, just as they were clinging to her roots, that Palmon noticed the   
tendrils. She tried to scream, but couldn't.  
  
The last words Palmon heard before she lost conscienceness were, "We have   
unfinished business, you and I!"  
  
Gatomon never really liked the dark, or small spaces. 'They remind me too much of   
Myotismon..', the cat-digimon thought. Not that she felt entirely at home in the open, either..  
at least, not anymore. 'And the bright, open spaces remind me too much of.. her..."  
  
Gatomon tried to forget that name she treasured just a week ago. She wanted to   
forget many things. Some were easy to forget, because she could remember! For instance, Gatomon   
couldn't recall why she had wanted to kill- the exact reason, anyway. And why couldn't she   
remember? She found her herself trying to remember.. to remember...  
  
"Hikari."  
  
She was so lost in thought, Gatomon did not hear the mongrel growls and hisses   
behind her. She only heard them them when they seemed to grow louder than thunder! Then, she   
noticed them- a semi-circle of stray cats and dogs that blocked her route to the street and   
freedom. The cries from that semi-circle seemed to be accusing the small Digimon of something   
beyond mere killing. The hisses seemed to echo one word:   
  
"Treachery."  
  
As one, the strays ran towards Gatomon. She, in turn, ran blindly down to alleyways   
of Odaiba. The small cat-digimon ran into a dead-end, and looked wildly about for a place to hide.  
  
"Come here, Gatomon!" A voice seemed to whisper from a doorway. "I will protect you."  
  
Gatomon ran into the doorway, then adjusted her eyes to the dimness of the room.  
  
There was no one in the building.  
  
The door to the outside softly, but firmly, closed.  
  
The small feline-digimon jumped.  
  
With a certain uneasiness, Gatomon finally spoke. "Whoever you are.. arigatou, for   
saving me. Now.. show yourself!" Gatomon bore her claws.  
  
"Gatomon!" The soft voice giggled. "There is no need to bear you claws. We are friends!"   
  
"Wh- who are you?!!" Gatomon demanded. "You sound familiar. What.. do you want with me?"  
  
"Now, Gatomon!" The voice came closer as a misty light feeled the room. "I am just a   
friend! I wish you no harm!"  
  
Gatomon felt a certain fear as a mistiness closed up he throat so she could only barely   
breathe. And only whisper.  
  
"Hikari?"  
  
Byomon was flying in the nereby fields bordering the woods.   
  
"I am glad these places still exist!" The bird-digimon said to herself. "I need to think.   
And open air is the best place for me to think. Away from everyone!"  
  
'Just like Sora', Byomon thought unbiddedly.  
  
"I'm touched you still remember me-", the winds seemed to whisper, "-as I remember   
you.. my friend."  
  
"Nani?" Byomon looked bewilderedly around, as if trying to find direction. Then she saw it   
on the winds. A whispy cloud? A gathing of vapors?  
  
But this whispiness had a shape, a familiar shape.  
  
And a voice.  
  
"Why did you kill me, Byomon?" The cloud asked. "What changed?"  
  
Byomon tried switching direction, tried banking, tried climbing, tried diving! She tried   
anything to get away from the cloud.  
  
But the cloud always remained close by.   
  
"What caused you to kill me, Byomon?"  
  
"Sora.." Byomon cried. "Please.. leave me?"  
  
"I can not do that, Byomon! We are inseperable!"  
  
As Byomon started to cry out, Sora entered the small bird-digimon's body.  
  
Patomon stayed close to the undergrowth. Earth was prooving as dangerous as the Digi-  
world! Every cruching step made the rodent-digimon jump! Every snap was a stranger, and, therefor, an   
enemy.  
  
Or, worse, the noise could be a friend.. a former-friend.  
  
"IIE!" Patomon shouted in defiance. "Takeru can not hurt me, now. He is in the Realm of   
the Dead!"  
  
"Hai," came Patomon's reply. "And what can ghosts do?"  
  
"Nothing." Patomon answered instictively. "Nani?"  
  
"It is just me, Patomon. Takeru."   
  
Patomon jerked around to see the source of the words. There was Takeru Takaishi. The young   
man's spirit looked with sad eyes at the small digimon.  
  
"Why .. are you looking at me like that, Takeru?" Patomon asked, transfixed by the gaze.  
  
"Because I still love you, Patomon!" The wraithe replied. "And I do not wish to do what must   
come next." Takeru raised a fist back. "This will hurt me much more than you, my friend!"  
  
Tentomon was searching for shelter, any shelter, for a storm was coming. The small  
insect-digimon could feel it. And this time, for some reason, he dreaded it's coming.  
  
"Why do I fear the coming stotm so?" Tentomon asked aloud as he flew. "It is not as if the   
lightning can harm me! I am an electric-digimon, as well as an insectiod-digimon." He kept trying to out-  
distance himself from the approaching storm, and switching direction. And the storm kept following him!  
  
'What is it with this storm?!!', the little insectiod thought. 'It seems this storm had a   
mind of its own!'  
  
"Iie." The thunder said with a familiar ring. "It has mine."  
  
Tentomon stopped and almost fell before catching himself and hovering.  
  
Lightning etched a familiar face in the stormcloud bit by bit.  
  
"Koushirou-san?" The little digimon asked.  
  
"Hai", the thunders rolled. "Why did you murder me, Tentomon?"  
  
"'Murder'?" The word to him tasted like acid whenever Tentomon spoke.  
  
"Hai." Koushirou was unnervingly calm as he described how Tentomon had rigged the   
lines of Koushirou's laptop to electrocute him. "It was actually quite simple.But it took time. Time, not   
only to think it out, but to build this mousetrap. Time to plan. Plan to murder."  
  
"'Murder'. Tentomon tasted acid again, a bit stronger this time.  
  
"You murdered me, Tentomon. The question is... Why?"  
  
"'Murder.'" Tentomon said as the accusative acid worked into his conscienceness.   
"I do not know, Izumi-sama, I just felt like I had to." It wasn't said so much as an excuse as just a   
statement-of-fact. "Do with me what you must. I am ready to pay the price."  
  
A bolt of lightning caught the digimon fully in the chest.  
  
"Maybe," Koushirou's voice spoke from inside Tentomon, "in time. But noy now!"  
  
Agumon sat by the small fire inside the Araki Woods. A fire so close to people might attract   
attention, but it would also attract the digimon. A fire also helped dispell the cold and dark of the Woods.   
  
'Why is it so cold and dark so early?' The small dinosaur-digimon though. 'It is only  
3:00 PM?'  
  
"It is dark," the fire seemed to answer in an all-too-familar voice, "because I asked it to  
be so! I asked it so I could draw out your flame! We must talk, you and I."  
  
"Taichi ?" Agumon trembled in recognition of the voice hissing from the flames.  
  
"Why?" The form of Taichi Kamiya wavered in the fire. "Why was I sacrificed, my friend?"  
  
"I will NOT go back!" Agumon screamed in a wild fright."You would have left me and the others   
in the Digi-World! And we will NOT go back willingly! That is why you had to die! Now.. stay dead!!!" Agumon   
kicked out the campfire, but the visage of Taichi Kamiya remained in the lingering smoke.  
  
"You have answered me some, my friend." Taichi voice was low. "You will answer the rest.. in time!"  
  
The ghostly strande of smoke entered Agumon's lungs.  
  
On a long, dark road covered with mists, Gomamon sat dejectedly.   
  
"Why did I do it?" The ghostly aquatic-digimon asked himself, "why did I kill my   
best-friend? At least it's over now, for both of us. I just hope Jyou is happy where he is now."  
  
"Why are you here, Gomamon?" A vioce asked from the swirls of fog.  
  
"Jyou-san?" Gomamon asked fearfully. "Is it you?"  
  
"Hai." Jyou answered. "I have come for you."   
  
"Hai." Gomamon responded. "Let my punishment start now. Take me to my torture.   
I knew what I did was wrong, although it was called 'right'. That is why I did not destroy your  
digivice. I knew it was our link."  
  
"So.. your's was suicide?" Jyou asked. "Not an accident?"  
  
"My death?" Gomamon responded. "Hai. No mistake."  
  
"I thought as much." Jyou smiled at Gomamon. "Come! wa have much to do!"  
  
"'We'?" Gomamon asked fearfully.  
  
"Hai! Gomamon, you and I were given a job to do! And most important, we were ment  
to be one! You are the better part of me!"  
  
"But.. But.." Gomamon whispered. "How can you trust me? I.. I..." The small   
digimon suddenly cried out, "I KILLED YOU!!!"  
  
"But, did you really wish to, Gomamon?" Jyou asked.  
  
"Iie." Gomamon looked dejectedly at the ground. "But a voice in my head kept   
telling me it was for the best. Part of me never really believed it. That's why I chose to die   
when you died."  
  
"And what did this voice say?" Jyou asked in concern.  
  
"It.. reminded me how things really were in the Digi-World. Even before the   
darkness corrupted it, it was not an easy place to live. Death was not a stranger. And violence   
was not unknown. And none of us wanted to go back to that."  
  
"That is understandable, my friend!" Jyou knealt to speak to Gomamon. "And I   
would not force you to stay there!"  
  
"Not you, but others." Gomamon looked up at his partner.  
  
"Ah. Gennai." Jyou said.  
  
"And Leomon." Gomamon responded.  
  
"So!" Jyou sighed. "That is why we died!" Gomamon nodded.  
  
"And who reminded you of this?" Jyou asked.  
  
"Why must you know?" Gomamon asked.  
  
"Because," Responded Jyou, "We should both know who we are going to fight."  
  
"IIEDE!!" The little digimon screamed as he tried to scamper away from Jyou.   
"I will NOT go back to fight in the Digi-World!" His green eyes were teary. "You will not leave   
me there! I would rather stay dead!"   
  
"Gomamon!" Jyou's gentle blue eyes looked down at the shaking Digimon. "You   
have my word that I will not leave you there alone. From now on, wherever you are, there I will   
be!" He reached out to lightly touch Gomamon's forehead. And concentrated. "Open your mind to   
me."  
  
Jyou started seeing a picture in his mind. "And is this who's voice told you   
and the other digimon to kill us?"  
  
"Hai." Gomamon weakly nodded.  
  
"Then that is who we fight." Jyou calmly said.   
  
Slowly, two spirits merged into one.  
  
Slowly, a body regained signs of life.  
  
"Where are we?" Gomamon asked.  
  
'Don't breathe.' Jyou warned.  
  
"Why?" Gomamon asked.  
  
'Don't Breathe!" Jyou commanded. "We do not have alot of air here. And, we   
need to concentrate on how to get out of here.'  
  
Gomamon then noticed the sides of the casket and lid. 'This.. will take some   
time, right?"  
  
The "corpse" started to meditate.  
  
"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..."  
  
If anyone had been close enough to the cemetary to listen, they surely would   
have been startled by a muffled cry coming from under the ground.  
  
"Harpoon Torpedo!"  
  
A half-second later, a hole was blown open from where the grave of   
Jyou Kiddo had once been, eminating a faint green light. And, if anyone   
were to have seen that and dared to stay around for two more seconds, they   
would have seen a figure rising from the crater. He was a youngish-looking   
man, with blue hair cut to a ridge in the middle of his skull. That middle   
ridge showed as a red mohawk, the ridge, along with the rest of the hair,   
seemed to taper into a point somewhere below the neck. The youth's skin   
seemed, even in the dimness of twilight, whiter then pale, and he seemed to   
bear long black nails from what appeared to be webbed hands and feet. On his   
head and hands were what appeared to be purple markings of some kind.  
  
He smiled as his eyes opened revealing animate green orbs. "It feels   
SO good to breathe fresh air again! Well, Gomamon," Jyou Kiddo said, "we would   
do best to find our friends.. heheheh.. before our families do!"  
  
The firelight offered Agumon his only protection against the chill of   
the night. It also drew other digimon in like a beacon.  
  
"Komban-wa! Taichi!" Gabumon called to the fire.  
  
"Komban-wa! Yamato!" A possessed-Agumon responded. "So! What Agumon   
told me was true. I was not the only victim."  
  
"Iie. Gabumon admitted to killing me, but he does not know why."  
  
"The story sounds familiar." Gatomon's voice said. "Gatomon remembered  
setting me up to be mauled to death, but she could not remember why! And, when I tried   
to probe her memories, I found a blackness she is deathly afraid of."  
  
"That sounds as bad as Agumon." The possessed- reptilian-digimon said.  
"He answered the 'Why' of these murders, but he answered like he was trying to convince   
himself!"  
  
"At least we are getting together again!" Byomon said. "That is a good   
thing!"  
  
"Hai." Palmon answered. "Death can be lonely."  
  
"It is not like our digimon are glad to be re united with us." Patomon  
said. "Patomon fought me as much as possible!"  
  
"Tentomon would have fought me if he knew how," Tentomon said as he landed,  
"He certainly tried to evade me enough! But, when he was confronted with his crime, his defences  
crumbled!"  
  
"We know what we did", Agumon now wearily said, breaking Taichi's hold on him   
unexpectly. "So, kill us now! At least, we will die with friends on Earth! It will now be like   
the Digi-World, where one dies alone."  
  
"And often brutal!", Palmon suddenly answered in her own voice. "Mimi-san! You   
say you love me! If you truly so, then kill me NOW!"  
  
"It is just what we deserve, Yamayo-san!" Gabumon said as tears welled in his   
eyes. "It is what we want!"  
  
"We will NEVER go back to the Digi-World!" Patomon screamed. "You CAN NOT make   
us return!"  
  
"Hikari-chan," Gatomon shakily said, "I will kill you again, and myself this   
time, to keep us OUT of the Digital-World! You don't belong there! It's too DANGEROUS!"  
  
"Koushirou," Tentomon intoned, "You said, coming back, the loneliness and   
pain of this world scared you. The pain and loneliness of the Digital-World is just as great.  
And More. I would join Gatomon in gladly deleting myself so as to never see that place again."  
  
"HOLD IT!" The shout seemed to come from down a pathway. "Whatever you are,  
STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" Suddenly Kana Izumi appeared from the trail holding a torch and sword.  
  
"We have been found out!" Gabumon exclaimed.  
  
"Then let them kill us!" Agumon responded.  
  
"Mimi's.. stuffed animal?", Mimi's mother, Yoko Tachikawa, shouted. "What is   
that doing here?"  
  
"Waiting to die." Palmon responded.  
  
"Nani?" Yoko suddenly yelped and jumped back toward her husband. "Did that   
toy.. just.. talk?", she cried out, crutching her husband in a death-grip.  
  
Mrs. Takenouchi slowly, fearfully, walked up to Byomon. "What.. happened.. to  
my daughter?"  
  
"I killed her", Byomon softly said through her tears.  
  
Mrs. Takenouchi reeled backwards, barely catching herself before a fall.  
  
"But.. But.. why?" Mrs. Taenouchi stammered. "What.. What did.. my.. daughter  
do to you?"  
  
Byomon turned away from Sora's mother. "Nothing. That's what hurts. I cannot   
think of one good reason by I left her to fall to her death!"  
  
Being reminded of how she had last seen her daughter was too much for Mrs.   
Takenouchi. She screamed like one who had just lost her soul. In reality, her soul had already   
been ripped out.  
  
"And what of you?" Kana Izumi looked accusingly at Tentomon. "I would guess   
you can speak, too?"  
  
Tentomon nodded.  
  
"So!" Soun added. "What was you part in our son's death? And why participate?"  
  
"I set the trap that electrocuted your son." Tentomon admitted. "As for why?   
I did not wish to return to where your son found me. I heard someone say we would be sent back,  
if we did do something about it first."  
  
"So," Soun's voice lowered as his wife broke down over her son's execution,   
"it was a pre-emptive strike! Tell me, beetle! Who told you that my son would send you away?"  
  
"I.. cannot remember.." Tentomon said helplessly.  
  
"This is how you repay my sons' friendship?" Shigeru Ishida examined Gabumon.  
"I thought you were to protect my sons! You and that Patomon!"  
  
Gabumon looked at Shigeru Ishida with shock. "You.. KNOW about the Digimon,   
Ishida-sama?"  
  
"Hai." Mr. Ishida swore. "But, obviously, not enough!"  
  
"I suppose it was that Bukemon, or Gomamon, or whatever-it-is," Shin Kiddo   
spit out, "That drown my brother!" Shin stepped up closer, carrying a lantern and bo. "Where   
the THING that KILLED my brother ?!"  
  
"Dead." Agumon said softly. "Gomamon was not able to destroy the Digi-wice   
that linked his life-force to Jyou-kun's. When Jyou died, so did Gomamon."  
  
"At least, my brother's killer is dead." Shin grinned sadly. "You are avenged  
for your death, my brother." A tear rolled down Shin Kiddo's bowed cheek.  
  
"If it is any consolation, Shin-san," Gabumon said, barely above a whisper,   
"Gomamon died the same way as Jyou. With the digi-vice, whatever the children felt, we would feel.  
And, Gomamon did drown."  
  
"So, one of the executioners is dead." Shigeru said. "It is time for the other  
seven to JOIN him!" A knife slid into the palm of Ishida-san's hand. "Die, monster!"  
  
"Iie, Papa!" A blue light shown around Gabumon. "Dad! Do not do this!" Yamato  
materialized next to Gabumon, eyes pleading with his father. "This was not Gabumon's fault! Or   
anyone else's."   
  
"Yama-san is right, Mama!" Sora appeared from a red light around a shocked   
looking Byomon. "I have not seen the WHY yet of Byomon killing me, but I know it is something   
she did not think of doing herself. Somehow, I KNOW this!"  
  
"Yamato and Sora are correct." Hikari said as the other ghosts appeared to   
protect their Digimon-partners. "None wished for this to occur!"  
  
"THAT is hard to agree with, Hikari-chan!" Shin spoke quietly. "Especially,  
someone", he pointed to the assembled Digimon, "saw fit to desecrate my brother's final-rest!  
Which one of you blew it apart?"  
  
"The digimon did not desecrate my burial-spot, Shin!" A voice came from behind   
the gathering. "I destroyed it. I had to breathe fresh air, and come to the defence of the Digimon!"  
  
Shin Kiddo spun around in surprise. "Jyou?"  
  
"Hai, Shin." Jyou said quietly. "It is me."  
  
Shin stared at his younger-brother. 'His face!' Shin thought. 'How white it is!  
And his hair! And nails!'   
  
Reading Shin's thoughts, Jyou answered his older-brother. "Gomamon and I have   
merged."  
  
"'Merged'?" Shin asked.  
  
"Hai." Jyou said smiling sadly to his brother. "We still have much to do, Gomamon   
and I! We must right many wrongs. And, since we are not sure of the condition of Gomamon's remains,  
we are both using mine! Much like the others have taken over their digimon and merged."  
  
The various ghosts had since vanished from their digimon's sides. The families   
began to look closely at the Digital-Monsters.  
  
Yoko Tachikawa looked at her daughter's Digimon. "'Palmon'?" She asked. "That   
is what my daughter called you? Look up! Let me.. see you!"  
  
Palmon slowly turned around. When Yoko recalled Mimi bringing the "stuffed animal"  
home with her from camp, Yoko recalled seeing greem eyes. But how the eyes were a soft brown- just like..  
  
"Mimi?" Yoko reached down to caress the little plant-digimon.  
  
"Hai, Mama." Mimi's voice answered back. "I am here."  
  
"Patomon?" Mrs. Takaishi slowly bent down. She had remebered Takeru's "toy"  
strangely being a brighter orange and white in color. Now the white was underside and legs were   
more of a blondish-color. And the eyes were somehow different- a more-familiar shade of blue.  
  
"Takeru?" Mrs. Takaishi softly whispered.  
  
"Don't be mad at Patomon, Mama!" Takeru pleaded. "He didn't mean to do it!  
He was just scared! And he is more scared now!"  
  
"But.. why?" Kana Izumi asked as she looked into Tentomon's face and saw   
Koushirou's enquizitive black eyes. "What could have scared these- Digimon?- so much as to   
make them kill?"  
  
"Not 'What?', Izumi-sama," Jyou said calmly, "but 'Who?'! An evil being   
has played with the hearts of our friends like a Master-Chessman! It was he who first,   
maneuvered the thoughts of the Myotismon so as to strike our world! And, then, set our   
friends against us just in case the evil Myotismon was defeated! It is not only the vampire  
we faced, but another. Tentomon! What does Koushirou's laptop have on a 'Puppetmon'?"  
  
"'Puppetmon'?" Tentomon almost fell backward into the Izumis after he   
jumped straight up from fright. "I do not need Koushirou's computer! What I need is Koushirou  
here holding my hand! Puppetmon is supposedly a puppet-diogimon with an evil, manipulative   
personality! Having us do what we did would definitely be one of his favorite games! If he has   
us strung-up, then kill us now! That digimon would not think twice about using us to kill again!"  
  
"But how does this 'Puppetmon' get others to kill if they are not killers,  
Jyou?" Shin asked his brother.  
  
"I was able to read Gomamon's memories," Jyou grinned, "after calming him   
down! Puppetmon gained control of the digimon by warping their realities. He showed them   
pictures of what the digital-world had once been.. and could return to.. and said that we   
children would leave them there after our mission to fight for them was through! The digital-  
world was a rough place, Shin, even before the evil currupted it! Exile, executions, even the   
destruction of whole villages were not uncommon!"  
  
Mrs. Takenouchi found herself protectively gaurding Byomon.  
  
"That.." Shin stammered, "is barbaric!"  
  
"Once the digimon were persuaded we would leave them in such a world, a   
preemptive strike again us seemed not only feasable, but neccessary!"  
  
"I would never have left you, Byomon," Sora's voice softly cried, "if I   
would have known this!"  
  
"Neither would I!" Yamato's voice came from out of Gabumon. "Friends   
do not condemn one another!"  
  
"You will always be with me." Kari's voice softly reassured Gatomon.   
"Always!"   
  
"Unfortunately," Jyou said, "it is not over. We must go back. The evil  
born in the Digi-world threatens this one! Myotismon is still here! And Puppetmon is safely   
in the other World! Both must be dealt with!" The digimon, one and all, trembled at the   
thought of returning to the Digital-World.  
  
"We MUST return!" Gomamon's voice was heard from Jyou. "It is our only   
hope to make amends for what we have done! Besides, it offers us a chance to die heroes.  
It be able to die honorably is something that we do not deserve. But, it is something I   
would do gladly to honor Jyou Kiddo."  
  
As the digimon rose in responce to Gomamon's statement, the colors of  
the eights crests sheilded them.  
  
"We will go", Gatomon stated.  
  
"Wait a minute!" Shin Kiddo stated. "Jyou? Will you be coming back?"  
  
The families of the Digi-Destined gathered around the digimon protectively.  
  
"I do not know, Shin." Jyou looked away from his brother. "Gomamon is deathly  
afraid of his homeworld! If he must stay, I will not leave him alone!"  
  
"Neither will I!" The voices of the other Digi-Destined rose in defiance.  
  
"However, even if we come back, it may be to a death-sentence!" Taichi's voice   
called out. "The Digimon have already made it plain to us they would giove up their lives for   
what they have done to us!"  
  
"Whatever happens," Jyou answered turning back to face Shin, "we will be with   
our friends to face it!"  
  
Agumon, Gatomon, Byomon, Tanemon, Tentomon, Gabumon, and Patomon slowly left   
to go to their fate, folowed by Jyou. Whatever happened, they would face it together!  
  
Behind them, Mrs. Takenouchi, Mrs. Takaichi and Mr. Ishida, the Izumis and   
Tachikawas, and Shin Kiddo watched them go. Those who left were their children and brother. And   
they were heroes. Tears of farewell would fall later. Now, they saluted,  
  
  
  
  
Sayonara, minna.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
